


Sunrises and Sunsets

by Strange and Intoxicating -rsa- (strangeandintoxicating)



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Episode Ignis Verse 2, Episode Ignis Verse-2 Compliant, Happy Birthday Noctis, Happy Ending Complaint, M/M, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2019-08-29
Packaged: 2020-09-29 20:47:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20442284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strangeandintoxicating/pseuds/Strange%20and%20Intoxicating%20-rsa-
Summary: Noctis's first birthday after he brings back the dawn.Episode Ignis Verse-2 Complaint





	Sunrises and Sunsets

**Author's Note:**

> Happy birthday to my sweet, sweet Noctis. He deserves nothing but love, tenderness, and pancakes in bed.

Noctis wakes to eyelashes pressed up against his cheek, hot breath on his throat. It’s a comforting feeling that he had missed with all of that time in the Crystal, but now that it’s here it’s hard to imagine going a moment more without it. It’s been months since he returned to rid the world of the darkness, and since then, Ignis has never left his side.

Not once, not even for a moment.

“You awake?” Noctis whispers, and Ignis replies with a steady hum. “That’s not an answer.”

“Yes, love. I’m awake.”

“How long?”

Ignis’s laugh trickles through their chamber. “Long enough.”

Noctis still hasn’t opened his eyes yet, instead choosing to fall into that warmth that is Ignis’s arm thrown across his stomach, pulling him close in their sleep. When they had been younger, before everything, Noctis had slept exactly like this with Ignis. When they’d gotten older, when the truth of their love was almost too much for either to bear, Noctis had slept curled up inches away from the man he loved, fearful that he’d get too close.

Now?

Now he can’t get close enough.

Noctis rustles in his bed—in _their_ bed—and rests his hands on Ignis’s chest. He can feel that comforting beating under hot skin, and Noctis has to stop himself from blindly leaning his head down to listen to his lover’s heart. In the Crystal there had been coldness, silence…

Here?

Here there’s warmth and the sound of Ignis’s heart beating again and again, and Noctis knows that Ignis will never let go, not unless he wanted him to.

He never wants Ignis to let go.

Noctis knows that there are undoubtedly a thousand things he has to do today, because every day as king means more to do—even on his birthday. There’s always more to fix, more of Eos to bring back from the precipice that was the end of the world, but right now the bed is too warm and Noctis just _doesn’t want to_.

_And I get to have that today. Just for today._

Noctis opens his eyes to see pale green staring back. There’s something so absolutely entrancing about Ignis’s eyes; they’d been beautiful before Altissia, before everything that happened, but now?

There’s something about Ignis’s eyes that feels like a breath of fresh air on a spring day, the wind blowing through his hair as the grass tickles his feet. But more than that, there’s magic and wonder and something so beautiful it makes Noctis’s heart physically _ache_ and he knows that’s the part of him that’s with Ignis no matter where he goes, what he does. It’s the part that connects their souls in a way that no other on Eos could really understand.

Ignis walked through hell and sold his very soul for Noctis, and Noctis…

_I did the same. And I’d do it a thousand times over just to know you’re safe._

“No need for that, now.”

Ignis is always trying to make Noctis feel better, and somethings he believes it. But then, just sometimes when it’s late at night and the magic inside him doesn’t know what else to do but to reach out for Ignis, Noctis can almost see through Ignis’s eyes. He’s the reason why Ignis can see—

_But I’m the reason he was hurt in the first place._

“Oh, Noct,” Ignis whispers, and Noctis can only shake his head. But Ignis knows him better than that, knows exactly what’s going through his mind, even if he _doesn’t_. Or at least, he shouldn't, but the magic in them is so different than anything Noctis knew before, and it's easy to believe that the magic of the ring did more than touch their souls. 

_Maybe... maybe it bound _ _them._

“It’s nothing,” Noctis replies, reaching out to run his fingers against the scars around Ignis’s eyes. If he had more control over the magic, maybe he would have been able to take all of the pain and hurt, but—

“I don’t regret them.”

Ignis’s words almost physically hurt, and Noctis can’t help but blink back the tears that pull at his eyes. He doesn’t want to cry, doesn’t want to feel so silly, but it’s so early in the morning and it’s that point between when reality and dreams meet, and Noctis can’t stop himself.

“I wish I could’ve done more—“

But Ignis hushes him with a kiss. It takes his breath, takes his hesitation, takes his sadness and his fear. All that is left is Ignis’s mouth on his, that sweet love that only Ignis can provide. They’ve known each other their entire lives, and Noctis is ready to live the rest of his life next to the love of his life.

“I love them because they’re a part of you.”

Those words touch something deep in Noctis, and he isn’t sure if it’s his magic or something else, something deeper. All he knows is that looking into Ignis’s eyes is like looking into the man’s soul, and all he can see is beauty.

“I should make you breakfast,” Ignis says, and for a moment Noctis expects Ignis to let go, but he doesn’t. He stays exactly where he’s meant to be.

“You don’t need to—“

“I absolutely do. It’s your birthday, after all.”

_Birthday_.

Noctis sees Ignis’s mouth pull into a smile, and for a moment Noctis can’t quite understand, until…

“Oh. My birthday. I…” Noctis doesn't need to say it. Ignis knows. He always knows.

Ignis runs his fingers through Noctis’s hair. “I’m aware. Things have been rather…”

“Hectic?”

“To put it mildly.” But there’s nothing but reverence in Ignis’s voice. He presses his mouth to the corner of Noctis’s again before slowly easing himself up to a sitting position. “I was thinking pancakes?”

“You always make me pancakes for my birthday.”

“And I always shall.”

Noctis thinks for a moment, just a moment, before pulling Ignis back down into bed.

“Pancakes can wait. I just want—“ the words stick in Noctis’s throat, but all he has to do is look into Ignis’s eyes, and Ignis _knows_.

Ignis presses a kiss against Noctis’s forehead before he lays back down, curling around Noctis just as they had done when they were children.

Noctis can’t look away from Ignis’s eyes, and maybe he’s entranced, maybe he’s under a spell from the magic he poured into Ignis, but Noctis’s pretty sure it’s just the fact that Ignis looks at him like he’s the first sunrise and sunset after ten years of darkness.

“You are.”

Noctis’s breath catches in his throat as Ignis’s eyes sparkle with the Crystal’s magic—

“No. Your magic—not the Crystal’s. Yours.” Ignis says it with such conviction, such sureness, that it’s impossible for Noctis _not_ to believe him. “It’s always you, Noct. Always. You saved me.”

Noctis knows that Ignis isn’t just talking about the ring. He’s talking about a childhood of loneliness, of insecurities, of fear.

“You saved me first.”

Noctis leans in, resting his forehead against Ignis’s.

“Happy birthday, Noct.”

“Thank you, Iggy.”

_I love you._

_And I, you._


End file.
